If you’ve been paying attention, you are well aware of our fondness for Ska Brewing‘s Modus Hoperandi. I first discovered it last summer on a trip out to Colorado, and Mike and Jeff have since become quite the fans.

We’ve blogged about the fantastic brew a number of times — here, here, here and here.

The brewery tweeted this video a coupla days ago and I thought I better share. Lots of great beer porn here.

Unfortunately, the closest you can get Modus Hoperandi is about 4-and-a-half hours away.

If you find yourself passing through St. Louis and buying beer, we’d sure appreciate a sixer or three.

Jeff, of FuzzyBrew, is the master of traveling and bringing home new kinds of beer, especially if an airplane is involved. He can pack them up and travel with beer like no one I know.

I’m not there yet. But I do like to bring home beer if I’m traveling and have my car.

So on my recent visit to St. Louis, I made sure to do some shopping.

Luckily, my brother had just been to St. Louis and recommended Straub’s, a Miss Cordelia’s-like grocery with a nice selection of beer, most of which you can’t buy in Memphis.

My goal was to bring home some Missouri brews that I had yet to try. I did that, plus I picked up some other great stuff.

Here’s what I brought home:

• Two six-packs of Schafly Coffee Stout. I just brewed a coffee stout, so I was interested in trying a commercial version of the beer. St. Louis’ Schlafly uses Kaldi’s Coffee and mixes it with an Oatmeal Stout for a really nice beer.

• Two six-packs of Schlalfy No. 15. This is Schlalfy’s 15th anniversary ale, which is wheaty and spicy. Not a huge fan, but my fellow FuzzyBrewers don’t mind the wheat beers.

• Two six-packs of Schlalfy Winter ESB. A decent winter seasonal brewed with rye flakes and plenty of hops. They were out of this at the Schlafly Taproom, so I was happy to find it here in bottles.

• One six-pack of Cherry Chocolate Beer from O’Fallon, Missouri’s O’Fallon Brewery. I read about this beer online last year, and started craving it for some bizarre reason. I like cherries, and I like chocolate. I bought a sixer when I saw it at Straub’s and couldn’t finish one bottle. It was awful.

• One six-pack of Big Sky IPA from Big Sky Brewing Co. in Missoula, Montana. One of two non-Missouri beers I brought home. It’s a really, really nice IPA. Citrusy, but well-balanced. Hated to finish that sixer.

•Finally, I picked up three six-packs of Ska Brewing Company‘s Modus Hoperandi. This is actually why I went to Straub’s. My brother found this Colorado beer when he went to St. Louis and brought home a sixer for me. One of the best beers I tried in 2010. I bought a six-pack for me, and sixers for both Grant and Jeff. (They also got Schlafly mixers.) They were quite happy with the gift. When I go back to Missouri, I’ll bring back even more Modus.

Up next: In Part 5 of the St. Louis beer tour, I visit the Mecca for beer lovers in the United States, and try to keep a straight face.